#f. richard moore

[garadinervi]

Affinities, (1972, 4'30"), Film by Lillian F. Schwartz, with Kenneth C. Knowlton [Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA. © Lillian F. Schwartz]

[companion-showdown]

Anniversary Tournament

Last year for Doctor Who's anniversary I ran a tournament between Doctor Who stories, and I wanted to so something different again this year. A tournament between real people important to the history of Doctor Who, actors, writers, producers, directors, composers, production designers. Technically it'll be a tournament for the most infuential person to Doctor Who and its development over the years, but really I want it to be a celebration of all of these people, and not just the winner.

To that end, the nomination form, you can also submit nominations normally, ie sending me an ask or replying to this post, however I won't be accepting propaganda through those methods.

I'm thinking I'll close nominations on the 18th of November, that might change but probably not by much

Current Nominations:

if green then at least one person has submitted propaganda for them

Actors

Arthur Darvil

Billie Piper

Carole Ann Ford

Christopher Eccleston

Colin Baker

David Graham and Peter Hawkins

David Tennant

Frazer Hines

Freema Agyeman

India Fisher

Jacqueline Hill

Jodie Whittaker

John Simm

Jon Pertwee

Lisa Bowerman

Liz Sladen

Matt Smith

Ncuti Gatwa

Nicholas Courtney

Pat Gorman

Patrick Troughton

Paul McGann

Peter Capaldi

Peter Davison

Rodger Delgado

Sean Carlsen

Sophie Aldred

Stuart Fell

Sylvester McCoy

Tom Baker

William Hartnell

William Russell

Composer

Delia Derbyshire

Dudley Simpson

Murray Gold

Paddy Kingsland

Peter Howell

Rob Harvey

Ron Grainer

Segun Akinola

The BBC Radiophonic Workshop

Designers

June Hudson

Peter Brachacki

Raymond Cusic

Directors

Christopher Barry

Graeme Harper

Paddy Russell

Rachel Talalay

Richard Martin

Waris Hussein

Fandom

Marnal Gate

TARDIS wiki creator

The Audience

Craig Ferguson

Producers

Barry Letts

Graham Williams

John Nathan Turner

Philip Hinchcliffe

Verity Lambert

Julie Gardner

Writers (including script editors and showrunners)

Alan Moore

Anthony Coburn

Chris Chibnall

David Whittaker

Donald Wilson

Douglas Adams

Eric Saward

Gerry Davis

Grant Morrison

John Lucarotti

Johnathan Blum

Justine Richards

Kate Orman

Kit Pedler

Lance Parkin

Lawrence Miles

Marc Platt

Paul Cornell

Robert Holmes

Robert Shearman

Rona Munro

Russell T Davies

Steven Moffatt

Terrance Dicks

Terry Nation

Other/impossible to categorise

all the thousands of people who've worked behind the scenes

Michael Grade (BBC higherup who hated doctor who so so much)

Peter Cregeen (actually cancelled Doctor Who)

Sydney Newman

Nicholas Briggs

Gary Russell

John F Kennedy

Sue from Catering

The real historical figures who've appeared in the show

Shakespeare

[ed-recoverry]

List of free audiobooks on YouTube for anyone interested

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Alice in Wonderland

Animal Farm by George Orwell

The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H P Lovecraft

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

The Village by Caroline Mitchell

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (fuck JKR)

Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Upside Down by Danielle Steel

The Fiancée by Kate White

The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Theif

Accidentally Married by Victoria E. Lieske

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

The Collector (book one) by Nora Roberts

The Lies I Told by Mary Burton

Dead Man’s Mirror by Agatha Christie

The Hobbit

The Taken Ones by Jess Lourey

The Good Neighbour by R J Parker

The Island House by Elana Johnson

Desperation by Stephan King

The Healing Summer by Heather B. Moore

The Last Affair by Margot Hunt

To Be Claimed by Willow Winter

Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

The Inn by James Patterson

Wonder by R J Palacio

Faking It With The Billionaire by Willow Fox

The Lost Years by Mary Higgins Clark

Forrest Gump by Winston Groom

The Janson Directive by Robert Ludlum

The Catcher in the Rye

The Lottery Winner by Mary Higgins Clark

Where Eagles Dare by Alistair MacLean

Death of a Nurse by M C Beaton

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Sonnets by William Shakespeare

Frozen Betrayal by Clive Cussler

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Line of Fire by R J Patterson

Don’t Believe Everything You Think by Joseph Nguyen

The Remnant by Tim LaHaye

The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins

The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie

Payment in Kind by J A Jance

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Way of the Superior Man by David Deida

The Game of Life and How to Play It by Florence Scovel Shinn

The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

A Marriage of Anything but Convenience by Victorine E. Lieske

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

The Inheritance Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

The Kama Sutra by Mallanaga Vatsyayana

The Wisdom of Father Brown by G K Chesterton

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Robin Hood by J Walker McSpadden

The Poor Traveller by Charles Dickens

Days on the Road: Crossing the Plains in 1865 by Sarah Raymond Herndon

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Atomic Habits by James Clear

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Man After Man

Five on a Treasure Island by Enid Blyton

The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

Charlotte’s Web

Midsummer Mysteries by Agatha Christie

Out of Silent Planet by C S Lewis

The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle

Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton

The Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harai

Hamlet by Shakespeare

[vintagelasvegas]

Last Frontier Village, 1950

On the grounds of Western-themed Hotel Last Frontier there was a full theme park, a re-creation of Old West town populated with artifacts from the collection of Robert “Doby Doc” Caudill, souvenir shops, contemporary clothing and retail shops, a casino, restaurant, and banquet hall.

Last Frontier Village was planned from the early 40s by Hotel Last Frontier's founders R. E. Griffith and William Moore. The Village was to add a family theme park and retail shopping element to the Frontier's complex of the hotel, casino, sporting and recreation facilities, wedding chapel, and service station, all of them modeled in an all-encompassing Old West fantasy theme.

The Village's first businesses – Wood's Maple House, and Bird Cage Theater – opened 11/1/48. Last Frontier Village officially opened 9/9/50 along with its central Silver Slipper Gambling Hall.

Architects of Last Frontier Village were Richard Stadleman, best known for the Flamingo Hotel, and Walter Zick, whose firm Zick & Sharp designed hotels, casinos, and public buildings all over Las Vegas.

The Village is prominent in tourist photos and films throughout the 50s. The Review-Journal later claimed, “For almost a decade it was the Southwest’s No. 1 tourist attraction next to Hoover Dam” (RJ, 7/30/67).

Subsequent owners neglected the park. Silver Slipper was spun off to independent operators in the late 50s. Sportsdrome closed in ‘60. The closing date of Last Frontier Village sometime in the early 60s is unclear.

The Village was seen as late as Jul. '63 as a set piece in Viva Las Vegas. Last Frontier itself was demolished in '66 for a complete rebuilt, and there was talk of rebuilding the Village as late as summer ‘67 when the new incarnation of the Frontier opened. The park’s old west buildings may have survived the hotel demolition in '66 and lasted into the 70s but the park was never reopened.

1950. Photos from L. F. Manis Photograph Collection (PH-00100), UNLV Special Collections & Archives.

Last Frontier Village, 10/9/50 – The trains, buggies, and vehicles were among the "Doby Doc" collection. Photos: Paul L Henchey Photographs, UC Davis Library.

Golden Slipper, 11/20/50. The casino was renamed Silver Slipper in Dec. '50.

[mankillercalledbunny]

Hey gang can I get some Fantasy For Grown-ups recommendations (especially if they're available in audiobook format but NOT audible exclusives bc I use Libby)? I've been listening to a lot of T Kingfisher's fantasy lately all of which centers around grown ass adults but keeps a lot of the things I loved about fantasy growing up: fun and creative worldbuilding, competent protagonists, humour and clever dialogue, and intriguing narrative. I also like Pratchett, especially the Watch set and the Witches. I like stories that feel like they could conceivably have been a Dungeons and Dragons campain, or are subversions of a traditional fairytale. I don't mind romance subplots (as long as they're established well and don't feel tacked on because the author felt obligated) but I'm not one for Romance Novels specifically, which is why I don't use the term Adult Fantasy because for some reason people take that to mean porn with some dragons thrown in. I'm definitely up for some Sci-Fi or Mystery in my fantasy, too!

Current TBR:

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel by Susanna Clarke

The City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Books I loved:

T Kingfisher

Nettle & Bone

Swordheart

Bryony and Roses

Thornhedge

Saint of Steel series

Other authors/works

The Watch Cycle (Terry Pratchett) and other Discworld

The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner

Lamb by Christopher Moore

The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid

16 Ways To Defend A Walled City by K J Parker (and sequels)

The Abhorsen series by Garth Nix

The Lies of Locke Lamora (currently reading) by Scott Lynch

Reforged/Reborn Duology by Seth Haddon

Babel by R. F. Kuang

The Memoirs of Lady Trent series by Marie Brennan

Books I liked as a kid that are in the same vein

Redwall by Brian Jacques

Lockwood & Co by Jonathan Stroud

Everything by Rick Riordon

The Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull

TV Shows, Films, & Video Games with similar energy that I enjoy

Leverage

Star Trek

Baldur's Gate 3

The Witcher: Wild Hunt

Mass Effect

Classic Ghibli

Arcane

Please don't recommend anything by Sarah J Maas, Brandon Sanderson, or Leigh Bardugo, I've already got the big names on the list.

[joansiesbeloved]

The Kennedy Family at Hyannis Port posing for their iconic photoshoot the day after John F. Kennedy won the election against Richard Nixon. Circa, November 9th, 1960. ♡

L-R Standing: Ethel Skakel Kennedy, Stephen Edward Smith, Jean Ann Kennedy Smith, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Robert Francis Kennedy, Patricia Helen Kennedy Lawford, Robert Sargent Shriver Jr., Virginia Joan Bennett Kennedy, and Peter Sydney Ernest Lawford. L-R Seated: Eunice Mary Kennedy Shriver, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr., Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, and Edward Moore Kennedy.

[transmutationisms]

do you have any reading recs (books, ~scholarly articles, whatever) in the same vein as this post? (doesn't need to be a super long list, i'm content to branch off with the works cited of whatever you come up with...) as always, love your blog!! :-)

yes :3 split roughly by subtopic, bolded some favs

Evolution in England prior to (Charles) Darwin

Cooter, Roger. The Cultural Meaning of Popular Science: Phrenology and the Organisation of Consent in Nineteenth Century Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1985).

Desmond, Adrian. The Politics of Evolution: Morphology, Medicine, and Reform in Radical London. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1989).

Elliott, Paul. “Erasmus Darwin, Herbert Spencer, and the Origin of the Evolutionary Worldview in British Provincial Scientific Culture, 1770–1850.” Isis 94 (1): 1–29 (2003).

Finchman, Martin. “Biology and Politics: Defining the Boundaries.” In: Lightman, Bernard (Ed.). Victorian Science in Context. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1997), 94–118.

Fyfe, Aileen. Steam-Powered Knowledge: William Chambers and the Business of Publishing, 1820–1860. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (2012).

Harrison, James. “Erasmus Darwin’s View of Evolution.” Journal of the History of Ideas 32 (2): 247–64 (1971).

McNeil, Maureen. Under the Banner of Science: Erasmus Darwin and his Age. Manchester: Manchester University Press (1987).

Ospovat, Dov. “The Influence of Karl Ernst von Baer’s Embryology 1828–1859: A Reappraisal in Light of Richard Owen’s and William Benjamin Carpenter’s ‘Palaeontological Application of Von Baer’s Law.’” Journal of the History of Biology 9 (1): 1–28 (1976).

Rehbock, Philip F. The Philosophical Naturalists: Themes in Early Nineteenth-Century British Biology. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press (1983).

Richards, Robert J. Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behaviour. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1987).

Rupke, Nicolaas. Richard Owen: Biology without Darwin. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (2009 [ 1994]).

Secord, James. Victorian Sensation: The Extraordinary Publication, Reception, and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (2001).

van Wyhe, John. Phrenology and the Origins of Victorian Scientific Naturalism. London: Ashgate (2004).

Winter, Alison. “The Construction of Orthodoxies and Heterodoxies in the Early Life Sciences.” In: Lightman, Bernard (Ed.). Victorian Science in Context. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1997), 24–50.

Yeo, Richard. “Science and Intellectual Authority in Mid-Nineteenth Century Britain: Robert Chambers and Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation.” Victorian Studies 28 (1): 5–31 (1984).

Edinburgh Lamarckians and Scottish transmutationism

Desmond, Adrian. “Robert E. Grant: The Social Predicament of a Pre-Darwinian Transmutationist.” Journal of the History of Biology 17 (2): 189–223 (1984).

Jenkins, Bill. Evolution Before Darwin. Theories of the Transmutation of Species in Edinburgh, 1804–1834. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (2019).

Secord, James. “The Edinburgh Lamarckians: Robert Jameson and Robert E. Grant.” Journal of the History of Biology 24 (1): 1–18 (1991).

Corsi, Pietro. ‘Edinburgh Lamarckians? The Authorship of Three Anonymous Papers (1826–1829)’, Journal of the History of Biology 54 (2021), pp. 345–374.

Darwin and Darwinism

Desmond, Adrian and James Moore. Darwin: The Life of a Tormented Evolutionist. New York: W. W. Norton & Company (1994).

van Wyhe, John. “Mind the Gap. Did Darwin Avoid Publishing his Theory for many years?” Notes & Records of the Royal Society 61 (2007), 177–205.

Sloan, Philip R. “Darwin, Vital Matter, and the Transformation of Species.” Journal of the History of Biology 19 (3): 369–445 (1986).

Phillip R. Sloan, “The Making of a Philosophical Naturalist.” In: Hodge, Jonathan and Gregory Radick (Eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Darwin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2009), 17–39.

Sponsel, Alistair. Darwin’s Evolving Identity: Adventure, Ambition, and the Sin of Speculation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (2018).

Young, Robert M. “Malthus and the Evolutionists: The Common Context of Biological and Social Theory.” Past & Present 43 (1969): 109–45.

Young, Robert M. “Darwin’s Metaphor: Does Nature Select?” The Monist 55 (3): 442–503 (1971).

Bowler, Peter J. The Non-Darwinian Revolution: Reinterpreting a Historical Myth. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press (1988).

Bowler, Peter J. The Eclipse of Darwinism: Anti-Darwinian Evolution Theories in the Decades Around 1900. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press (1983).

Hale, Piers J. “Rejecting the Myth of the Non-Darwinian Revolution.” Victorian Review 41 (2): 13–18 (Fall 2015).

Lightman, Bernard. “Darwin and the popularisation of evolution.” Notes and Records of the Royal Society 64: 5–24 (2010).

Richards, Robert J. The Meaning of Evolution: The Morphological Construction and Ideological Reconstruction of Darwin’s Theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1992).

Ruse, Michael. The Darwinian Revolution: Science Red in Tooth and Claw. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (1979).

Lamarck and Lamarckism

Barthélemy-Madaule, Madeleine. 1982. Lamarck, the Mythical Precursor: A Study of the Relations between Science and Ideology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Burkhardt, Richard. 1970. Lamarck, Evolution, and the Politics of Science. Journal of the History of Biology 3 (2): 275–298.

Burkhardt, Richard. 1977. The Spirit of System: Lamarck and Evolutionary Biology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Corsi, Pietro. 1988. The Age of Lamarck: Evolutionary Theories in France, 1790–1830. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Corsi, Pietro. 2005. Before Darwin: Transformist Concepts in European Natural History. Journal of the History of Biology 38 (1): 67-83.

Corsi, Pietro. 2011. The Revolutions of Evolution: Geoffroy and Lamarck, 1825–1840. Bulletin du Musée D’Anthropologie Préhistorique de Monaco 51: 113–134.

Jordanova, Ludmilla. 1984. Lamarck. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Spary, Emma C. 2000. Utopia’s Garden: French Natural History from Old Regime to Revolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

[viir-tanadhal]

Pet Shop Boys' song picks for various radio interviews for Nonetheless

BBC Radio 2 with Jo Whiley (April 25, 2024)

Chris

Black Beauty theme (childhood song)

Bedsitter by Soft Cell

Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now by McFadden & Whitehead (death song)

Neil

The Young Ones by Cliff Richard and the Shadows (childhood song)

Bedsitter by Soft Cell

Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams (death song)

BBC Radio 6 with Lauren Laverne (April 26, 2024)

Chris

Was That All It Was by Jean Carn

This Time Baby by Jackie Moore

Native New Yorker by Odyssey

Last Night A DJ Saved My Life by InDeep

Neil

Borderline by Madonna

I Want You by Marvin Gaye

Born Slippy by Underworld

Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin

Greatest Hits Radio with Jackie Brambles (April 28, 2024)

Chris

Baby Love by The Supremes

For Once in My Life by Glen Campbell

Rhythm is a Dancer by Snap!

Neil

Girl Don't Come by Sandie Shaw

Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin

Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack

BBC Radio 3 with Jess Gillam (June 8, 2024)

Neil

Ich Habe Genung (Cantata No 82) by J.S. Bach

Générique by Miles Davis

Symphonia Virginum: O Dulcissime Amator by Hildegard von Bingen

September Song by Kurt Weill; sung by Lotte Lenya

Tracks of My Years with Vernon Kay (June 9, 2024)

Chris

Stop! In the Name of Love by The Supremes

Fame by Irene Cara

Never Give You Up by Sharon Redd

Let Me Love You For Tonight by Kariya

A Love So Beautiful by Roy Orbison

Neil

I Am The Walrus by The Beatles

Papa Was A Rollin' Stone by The Temptations

Do Anything You Wanna Do by Eddie and the Hot Rods

This Is Not America by David Bowie

Unfinished Sympathy by Massive Attack

Artists in Residence - Queer (Nov. 11, 2024)

Homosexuality by Modern Rocketry

Smalltown Boy by Bronski Beat

Walk On The Wild Side by Lou Reed

I Was Born This Way by Carl Bean

Dizzy by Olly Alexander

Shoot Your Shot by Divine

Menergy by Patrick Cowley

Streets of Philadelphia by Bruce Springsteen

Never Give You Up by Sharon Redd

Hideous by Oliver Sim (ft. Jimmy Somerville)

In the Evening by Sheryl Lee Ralph

If Love Were All by Judy Garland

Artists in Residence - Producers (Nov. 12, 2024)

I'm So Hot For You by Bobby O

Hey DJ by Worlds Famous Supreme Team (Stephen Hague)

Slave To The Rhythm by Grace Jones (Trevor Horn)

I Like You (Shep Pettibone Mix) by Phyllis Nelson (Shep Pettibone)

Point of No Return by Exposé (Lewis Martineé)

Axel F by Harold Faltermeyer

Hold That Sucker Down - Builds Like a Skyscraper Mix by OT Quartet (Rollo)

Balcony Scene from Romeo + Juliet by Craig Armstrong

So Hard - D Morales Red Zone Mix by Pet Shop Boys (David Morales)

The Loving Kind by Girls Aloud (Xenomania)

Say You Will by Kanye West (Andrew Dawson)

It's Automatic by Zoot Woman (Stuart Price)

The Meeting Place by The Last Shadow Puppets (James Ford)

Artists in Residence - Miserablism (Nov. 13, 2024)

Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You by Stevie Nicks

One Day I'll Fly Away by Randy Crawford

Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want by The Smiths

Baltimore by Nina Simone

Alfie by Cilla Black

Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime by The Korgis

Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinéad O'Connor

Parlez-moi de Lui by Françoise Hardy

By The Time I Get To Phoenix by Glen Campbell

Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) by Marvin Gaye

I Don't Want To Hear It Anymore by Dusty Springfield

I'm Not In Love by 10cc

Let's Stay Together by Tina Turner

I Can't Give Everything Away by David Bowie

Artists in Residence - Remixes (Nov. 14, 2024)

Girls & Boys (Pet Shop Boys Remix) by Blur

Young Offender - Jam and Spoon Trip-O-Matic Fairytale Mix by Pet Shop Boys

Hallo Spaceboy (Pet Shop Boys Remix) by David Bowie

Flamboyant (Michael Mayer Kompakt Mix) by Pet Shop Boys

Insanely Alive (Pet Shop Boys Radio Edit) by Wolfgang Tillmans

Miserablism (Moby Electro Mix) by Pet Shop Boys

Queen of Ice (Pet Shop Boys 7" Mix) by Claptone

I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Anymore (Peter Rauhoffer's Roxy Anthem Mix) by Pet Shop Boys

Think Of A Number (Pet Shop Boys Magic Eye 12" Remix) by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

Can You Forgive Her? (M.K. Remix) by Pet Shop Boys

Love Comes Quickly (Shep Pettibone Mastermix) by Pet Shop Boys

Dancing Star (Solomun Remix) by Pet Shop Boys

A Red Letter Day (Trouser Enthusiasts Autoerotic Decapitation Mix) by Pet Shop Boys

[acotars]

books read in 2024

⋆ ⭒˚.⋆ january ⋆.˚⭒ ⋆

one dark window (the shepherd king #1) by rachel gillig

the murder on the links (hercule poirot #2) by agatha christie

pageboy by elliot page

house of sky and breath (crescent city #2) by sarah j. maas

rogue protocol (the murderbot diaries #3) by martha wells

cult classic by sloane crosley

malibu rising by taylor jenkins reid

the beauty of your face by sahar mustafah

exit strategy (the murderbot diaries #4) by martha wells

animal farm by george orwell

everyone in this room will someday be dead by emily austin

carrie soto is back by taylor jenkins reid

a court this cruel & lovely (kingdom of lies #1) by stacia stark

the rules do not apply by ariel levy

poirot investigates (hercule poirot #3) by agatha christie

yellowface by rebecca f kuang

every heart a doorway (wayward children #1) by seanan mcguire

house of flame and shadow (crescent city #3) by sarah j. maas

read: 18

* · ✦ · * february * · ✦ · *

beautyland by marie-helene bertino

bride by ali hazelwood

network effect (the murderbot diaries #5) by martha wells

fugitive telemetry (the murderbot diaries #6) by martha wells

faebound (faebound #1) by saara el-arifi

the raven boys (the raven cycle #1) by maggie stiefvater **

read: 6

.✦.· *. march .*· .✦.

interesting facts about space by emily austin

penance by eliza clark

the book that no one wanted to read by richard ayoade

pride and prejudice by jane austen

unlikeable female characters: the women pop culture wants you to hate by anna bogutskaya

the shame by makenna goodman

greta & valdin by rebecca k. reilly

read: 7

✷ · ✶ · ✧ april ✧ · ✶ · ✷

this spells love by kate robb

out on a limb by hannah bonam-young

gwen & art are not in love by lex croucher

a lady's guide to scandal by sophie irwin

the friendship study by ruby barrett

the boyfriend candidate by ashley winstead

the pumpkin spice cafe by laurie gilmore

business or pleasure by rachel lynn solomon

how to end a love story by yulin kuang

this could be us (skyland #2) by kennedy ryan

the honeymoon crashers (the unhoneymooners #1.5) by christina lauren

we could have been friends, my father and i by raja shehadeh

how to stop time by matt haig

how to fake it in hollywood by ava wilder

with love from cold world by alicia thompson

funny story by emily henry

love radio by ebony ladelle

old flames and new fortunes by sarah hogle

just for the summer by abby jimenez

don't want you like a best friend by emma r. alban

love interest by clare gilmore

the exception to the rule (the improbable meet-cute #1) by christina lauren

worst wingman ever (the improbable meet-cute #2) by abby jimenez

with any luck (the improbable meet-cute #5) by ashley poston

last call at the local by sara grunder ruiz

happily never after by lynn painter

the ex talk by rachel lynn solomon

i kissed shara wheeler by casey mcquiston

the love wager by lynn painter

morning glory milking farm by c.m. nacosta

will they or won't they by ava wilder

read: 31

.　° * ☆ may ☆ * °　.

when the sky fell on splendor by emily henry

on earth we're briefly gorgeous by ocean vuong

blizzard by marie vingtras

bright young women by jessica knoll

the age of magical overthinking: notes on modern irrationality by amanda montell

the flatshare by beth o'leary **

read: 6

⋆ ˚.⋆ june ⋆.˚ ⋆

not in love by ali hazelwood

the way of kings (the stormlight archive #1) by brandon sanderson

words of radiance (the stormlight archive #2) by brandon sanderson

read: 3

. · ☆ . july . ☆ · .

edgedancer (the stormlight archive #2.5) by brandon sanderson

blue iris: poems and essays by mary oliver

woman, eating by claire kohda

oathbringer (the stormlight archive #3) by brandon sanderson

a novel love story by ashley poston

chlorine by jade song

how to read now by elain castillo

please stop trying to leave me by alana saab

beautifully broken life by catherine cowles

the god of the woods by liz moore

edgedancer (the stormlight archive #3.5) by brandon sanderson

the dead and the dark by courtney gould

a most agreeable murder by julia seales

the murder of roger ackroyd (hercule poirot #4) by agatha christie

read: 14

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁august ݁. ⊹ ₊ ݁.

the bluest eye by toni morrison

more, please: on food, fat, bingeing, longing, and the lust for "enough" by emma specter

the ministry of time by kaliane bradley

system collapse (the murderbot diaries #7) by martha wells

emily wilde's encycolpedia of fairies (emily wilde #1) by heather fawcett

emily wilde's map of the other lands (emily wilde #2) by heather fawcett

catalina by karla cornejo villavicencio

roadside picnic by arkady strugatsky and boris strugatsky

read: 8

·.★ ° ·. ✶ september ✶ .· ° ★.·

the most by jessica anthony

rhythm of war (the stormlight archive #4) by brandon sanderson

we were the universe by kimberly king parsons

read: 3

.• ★ ₊ ݁. • october • . ݁₊ ★ •.

creation lake by rachel kushner

small rain by garth greenwell

spells for forgetting by adrienne young

normal people by sally rooney

there there by tommy orange

read: 5

.·　✶ november ✶　·.

:(

read: 0

· ⊹ * · december · * ⊹ ·

two can play by ali hazelwood

happy medium by sarah adler

read: 2

⋆ ˚. ⋆ ✶ reading goal: 103/100 ✶ ⋆ .˚ ⋆

add me on goodreads !

[ingek73]

The Observer

Monarchy

King and Prince William’s estates ‘making millions from charities and public services’

Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster likely to make at least £50m from leasing land to services such as NHS and schools, according to investigation

Richard Palmer

Sat 2 Nov 2024 20.50 CET

King Charles and Prince William’s property empires are taking millions of pounds from cash-strapped charities and public services including the NHS, state schools and prisons, according to a new investigation.

The reports claim the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, which are exempt from business taxes and used to fund the royals’ lifestyles and philanthropic work, are set to make at least £50m from leasing land to public services. The two duchies hold a total of more than 5,400 leases.

One 15-year deal will see Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS hospital trust in London pay £11.4m to store its fleet of electric ambulances in a warehouse owned by the Duchy of Lancaster, the monarch’s 750-year-old estate.

The king will also make at least £28m from windfarms because the Duchy of Lancaster retains a feudal right to charge for cables crossing the foreshore, according to an investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches and the Sunday Times.

William’s Duchy of Cornwall, the hereditary estate of the heir to the throne, has signed a £37m deal to lease Dartmoor prison for 25 years to the Ministry of Justice, which is liable for all repairs despite paying £1.5m a head for a jail empty of prisoners because of high levels of radon gas.

His estate also owns Camelford House, a 1960s tower block on the banks of the Thames, which has brought in at least £22m since 2005 from rents paid by charities and other tenants. Two cancer charities, Marie Curie and Macmillan – of which the king is a longstanding patron – have both recently moved out to smaller premises.

The Duchy of Cornwall has charged the Royal Navy more than £1m to build and use jetties and moor warships. It also charges the army to train on Dartmoor but the Ministry of Defence refused a Freedom of Information Act request asking how much it costs. The duchy also made more than £600,000 from the construction of a fire station and stands to get nearly £600,000 from rental agreements with six state schools.

In spite of the king and Prince William’s speeches and interventions on environmental issues, many residential properties let out by the royal estates are in breach of basic government energy efficiency standards.

InvestigatorsThe investigation found 14% of homes leased by the Duchy of Cornwall and 13% by the Duchy of Lancaster have an energy performance rating of F or G. Since 2020, it has been against the law for landlords to rent out properties that are rated below an E under the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards regulations.

The Duchy of Lancaster said: “Over 87% of all duchy-let properties are rated E or above. The remainder are either awaiting scheduled improvement works or are exempted under UK legislation.”

The royal estates also have deals with mining and quarrying companies.

The investigation has prompted calls for a parliamentary investigation and for the two empires to be folded into the crown estate, which sends its profits to the government. The king and Prince William pay income tax on profits from the estates after business expenses have been deducted, but both now refuse to say how much.

Critics say the estates, the income from which have been used by successive governments to keep the headline cost of the monarchy to the taxpayer down, enjoy a commercial advantage over rivals because they are exempt from corporation tax and capital gains tax.

Baroness Margaret Hodge, a former chair of the Commons public accounts committee, said the duchies should at least pay corporation tax. “This would be a brilliant time for the monarch to say, I’m going to be open, and I want to be treated as fairly as anybody,” she said.

Both duchies said they were commercial operations that complied with statutory requirements to disclose information. They also emphasised their efforts to become greener.

The Duchy of Lancaster said: “His majesty the king voluntarily pays tax on all income received from the duchy.”

-

&

Over the last two decades the royals have made £22m from the rental of office space in "Charity Towers" at commercial rates to organisations such as Marie Curie, MacMillan Cancer Support and Comic Relief. The King is the patron of Marie Curie and MacMillan

(from someone who is not a sycophant)

Disgusting

And they are already getting half a billion every year

[gloufiz]

Thanks for the tag @misting-moors !

9 books I hope to read in 2025... hm. I'll do you one better and give you 10 (I need it to be a multiple of 5 or it gives me an uncomfortable itch)!

So, for 2025 I hope to read:

1) Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

2) Babel by R. F. Kuang

3) House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski

4) Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

5) The Library Book by Susan Orlean

6) Men Who Hate Women: From Incels to Pickup Artists: The Truth About Extreme Misogyny and How it Effects Us All by Laura Bates

7) Late Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

8) Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

9) The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

10) Book from the Ground: From Point to Point by Xu Bing

Some have been on my TBR for longer than others, but these are the 10 that I'm hoping to cross off my list this year (and I hope maybe a few more, but I don't want to get too ahead of myself... This term is going to be brutal and I don't know if I'll have time to breathe, let alone read...)!

Anyways, I suppose I should pass this on! @rainbowfish1099 @finchwood4k

If you feel so inclined, I'd be intrigued to see how your year is going to look!

[myucornerorg]

So the other day I read the first volume of a manga called Magilumiere: Magical Girls Inc., which is set in a world where, kinda like MHA with superheroes, magical girls are a common sight, and being a magical girl is treated like a normal job. Basically, they function as exterminators for these monsters called kaii, and there are multiple companies, of all sizes, that employ magical girls for this purpose.

Anyway, the manga was really cool, but we all know that magical girl transformations (especially techno-magic ones like in this series) look best animated. So naturally, I looked it up to see if there was an anime adaptation. And there is - just not yet. This manga only came out in 2022 in Japan (and it's running in Shonen Jump+, no less), under the title Magilumiere Co. Ltd (Kabushiki Gaisha Majirumie in Japanese) and it only started being released in English by Viz in March of this year. And while an anime version is planned, it's not due out till Q4 of 2024. So I have to wait.

The cast and staff seem pretty good, though. The anime is being made by J.C. Staff (the studio behind many well-known animes, like Azumanga Daioh, the A Certain Magical Index franchise, Saiki K, Food Wars, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and Shakugan no Shana), alongside Studio Moe, which seems to be a pretty new studio with not that many credits. The composer, Makoto Miyazaki, also did the music for One Punch Man and Spy x Family. The script writer Shingo Nagai has also written for Symphogear (so he's no stranger to mahou shoujo). The director, Masahiro Hiraoka, doesn't seem to have much directorial experience (most of his credits on ANN are for artist work, most of which seem to be tied to Studio Moe, which as I mentioned, doesn't have very many credits), but I can overlook that. (Interestingly, a lot of his artist work has been in CG art, including CG for both HeartCatch and Suite PreCure, which makes me think the transformations and maybe attacks will involve CG, though I guess that's expected nowadays).

The cast is interesting too. The two main girls, Kana and Hiromi, are being voiced by Fairouz Ai and Yumiri Hanamori respectively. They previously appeared together in Tropical Rouge PreCure as Cures Summer and Coral respectively (and just last year reprised those roles in the movie PreCure All Stars F), although interestingly here Coral's actress is playing the energetic Hiromi, while Summer's actress is playing the much more reserved and intelligent Kana, which if you know Tropical Rouge is a complete opposite of their Cure characters. But then they have range - Fairouz is also the voice of Jolyne from JoJo and Alisa in Pokémon Concierge, while Yumiri has also played Hayasaka from Kaguya-sama (a character with a varied personality, apparently). So I'm not worried.

The two characters above are the resident programmer at and the boss of the titular Magilumiere. (Yes, the boss is a middle-aged male cosplayer. He's just weird like that). The programmer's name is Kazuo Nikoyama, and rather hilariously given his design, he's going to be voiced by Daiki Yamashita, the same actor who voices Izuku in MHA (I guess the resemblance to Izuku may not have been a coincidence 😂). As for the boss, his name is Kouji Shigemoto, and his planned actor is Rikiya Koyama (Kogorō Mori/Richard Moore in Detective Conan/Case Closed, Jōichiro in Food Wars, and Emiya in the Fate franchise).

Rounding out the currently known cast is nice-guy office worker Midorikawa, who is going to be voiced by Ryota Ohsaka (Keiji in Haikyuu, Sadao/Satan in The Devil is a Part-Timer, and the Japanese voice of Cat Noir).

Anyway, sounds like an interesting series! Unfortunately, Volume 2 of the manga doesn't come out in English until June, so I'll have to wait for that too.

[Picture source]

[lifblogs]

A Year in Reading: 2024

Bolded titles are favorites of mine.

January 1. The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson 2. Every Last Breath by Jennifer L. Armentrout 3. The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu 4. Arcanum Unbounded by Brandon Sanderson 5. Starter Villain by John Scalzi 6. Pulling the Wings Off Angels by K. J. Parker 7. The Rise of Kyoshi by F. C. Yee 8. The Shadow of Kyoshi by F. C. Yee

February 1. Richard III by William Shakespeare 2. Morgan Is My Name by Sophie Keetch 3. The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal 4. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan 5. The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan 6. The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan 7. The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare 8. The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan 9. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan 10. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare 11. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan 12. Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare 13. The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan 14. The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien

March 1. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare 2. Habibi by Craig Thompson 3. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare 4. The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien 5. The Two Gentlemen of Verona by William Shakespeare 6. The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan 7. King John by William Shakespeare 8. Richard II by William Shakespeare

April 1. The House of Hades by Rick Riordan 2. Hamlet by William Shakespeare 3. Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare 4. The Rape of Lucrece by William Shakespeare 5. The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan 6. The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan 7. Othello by William Shakespeare 8. The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan 9. The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan 10. Life By Pumpkin: A Cat's Tale by Leslie Popp

May 1. Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare 2. The Burning Maze by Rick Riordan 3. Love's Labour's Lost by William Shakespeare 4. The Tyrant's Tomb by Rick Riordan 5. Pericles by William Shakespeare 6. The Tower of Nero by Rick Riordan 7. Sonnets 1-154 by William Shakespeare 8. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien 9. System Collapse by Martha Wells 10. The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal 11. Cymbeline by William Shakespeare

June 1. King Lear by William Shakespeare 2. A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare 3. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson 4. The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson 5. The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare 6. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

July 1. The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson 2. House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas 3. As You Like It by William Shakespeare 4. Macbeth by William Shakespeare 5. House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas

August 1. Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare 2. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas 3. Coriolanus by William Shakespeare 4. All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare 5. Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare 6. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas 7. The Children of Húrin by J. R. R. Tolkien 8. The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare

September 1. The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien 2. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas 3. A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas 4. King Henry IV, Part I by William Shakespeare 5. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville 6. King Henry IV, Part II by William Shakespeare 7. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien 8. Henry V by William Shakespeare

October 1. A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas 2. Henry VIII by William Shakespeare 3. Edward III by William Shakespeare 4. The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien 5. Timon of Athens by William Shakespeare 6. The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare

November 1. The Tempest by William Shakespeare 2. The Two Towers by J. R. R. Tolkien 3. Dracula by Bram Stoker 4. The Two Noble Kinsmen by William Shakespeare 5. House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas 6. The Phoenix and the Turtle by William Shakespeare 7. A Funeral Elegy by William Shakespeare 8. Enemy of the Empire by Marshall J. Moore 9. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare 10. Henry VI, Part I by William Shakespeare 11. The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien

December 1. Henry VI, Part II by William Shakespeare 2. Henry VI, Part III by William Shakespeare 3. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon 4. A Lover's Complaint by William Shakespeare 5. The Passionate Pilgrim by William Shakespeare 6. Sonnets to Sundry Notes of Music by William Shakespeare 7. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

Books Read: 102 Favorite Books: 58 Currently Reading: Firefight by Brandon Sanderson Notable Achievements:

Completed The Lord of the Rings twice.

Read Dracula through Dracula Daily for the third time.

Finished The Lord of the Rings through the LOTR newsletter for the second time.

Participating in the LOTR newsletter for the third time.

Read all of Tolkien's work for the second time.

Read all of Shakespeare's work.

Read from 8 new authors.

Finished Moby-Dick through Whale Weekly.

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

The Secret We All Vowed (Part 2 of Wasteland)

by TheSarcasticArts My version of the batfamily timeline Peter wakes up after Doctor Strange told him that he can't live in this earth no more and he is in green stuff also he is.... Or Sad, sad, more sad, then happy Words: 14, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Series: Part 3 of Peter's F##### Up life Fandoms: Spider-Man - All Media Types, Batman - All Media Types, DCU Rating: Not Rated Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Mia "Maps" Mizoguchi, Bruce Wayne, Peter Parker, Dick Grayson, Justice League (DCU), Jason Todd, Damian Wayne, Damian Wayne's Pets, Selina Kyle, Tim Drake (DCU), Rose Wilson, Other(s), Cassandra Cain, Kate Kane (DCU), Batfamily Members (DCU), Rogues Gallery (Batman) Relationships: Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne, Bernard Dowd/Tim Drake, Flatline/Damian Wayne, Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson, Kate Kane/Sophie Moore, Ivy Pepper (Gotham)/Harleen Quinzel Additional Tags: Dick Grayson and Richard Parker (Marvel) are the Same Person, Dick Grayson is Peter Parker's Biological Parent, Protective Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson is Robin, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Good Parent Dick Grayson, Good Parent Barbara Gordon, Barbara Gordon is Batgirl, Barbara Gordon is Oracle, Mia "Maps" Mizoguchi is Robin, Damian Wayne is Robin, Damian Wayne is Shadow, Cassandra Cain is Batgirl, Cassandra Cain is Orphan, Cassandra Cain is Black Bat, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Bruce Wayne is Brucie Wayne, Tim Drake is Robin (DCU), Tim Drake is Red Robin (DCU), Dick Grayson is Red X, Dick Grayson is Renegade, Dick Grayson is Batman, Song: Robin (Taylor Swift), Alternate Universe, Evil Author Day, Other Additional Tags to Be Added via https://ift.tt/8bQanps

[burtonandtaylor]

Richard Burton Interview with BBC reporter John Simpson (1977)

I was the BBC’s radio correspondent in Johannesburg at the time when the African scenes in The Wild Geese were filmed… . The prospect of meeting Roger Moore, Richard Burton, Richard Harris and Hardy Kruger was, of course, an attractive one, though I probably didn’t mention that side of it. It would scarcely have sounded sophisticated. 

“If you remember, I asked for an interview with Richard Burton.” … I wasn’t expecting anything. If Richard Burton was too grand to have lunch with the others, he would certainly be too grand to be interviewed by me. The PR man came back looking apologetic. I was ready with a sharp reply, assuming I would be given a crisp turn-down. 

“He says if you don’t mind the mess in his caravan… . . [H]e’s just going through it a bit. That’s all.” 

He certainly was. Richard Burton’s ravaged, pockmarked face looked even harsher in reality than it did with all the care of the make-up artists. And despite the fierce sun outside he looked pale and unhealthy. 

But nothing could affect the voice. 

“Come in, come in, my dear boy,” he said, gripping my hand and pulling me up the steps… . The warmth of his tone outdid the afternoon heat. 

“Really sorry not to be down there with the others for lunch,” said Burton. “The fact is, you see, I’m on the wagon at the moment, and it doesn’t feel all that good, I have to confess… . Wish I’d been teetotal, like my old schoolmaster told me. But the stage, you know. And the company I’ve kept.” 

He gave a huge laugh, which seemed to make the entire caravan shake. It was a big one, with room enough for a sizeable (unmade) bed and a table covered with books, make-up bottles and photographs in silver frames. The biggest photograph was of Elizabeth Taylor. I had wondered how to broach the subject, after their divorce. But with Burton, whether it was because of the influence of the bundu or his free, open nature, there was no trouble at all. 

He saw the direction of my eyes. 

“Ah, Elizabeth. Isn’t she the most beautiful animal you’ve ever set eyes on?” 

… . I nodded, and felt emboldened. 

“So, you don’t feel bitter towards her?” 

“Bitter?” The caravan shook again. 

“Look, if she’d have me back I’d leave this sh—y film and this ghastly heat right now, and charter a plan to go wherever she was. Actually I know where she is. She’s in Malibu. I kind of keep in touch, you know.” 

“So why… . .?” 

“It’s the old thing: can’t live with her, can’t live without her. But I adore Elizabeth, and I always will.” 

There was a catch in his voice, and he looked out of the window at the baobab trees. 

“I don’t drink now, you know. I’m not pretending it’s not painful, but I’ve given it up for good. It was what Elizabeth hated most in me, I think, even though she’s pretty partial to it herself. It was like pouring petrol over our marriage. And now I don’t do it anymore. I hate it, in fact.” 

… . It seemed to me that a tear was glittering in his eye… . 

“What is it about her that you love so much?” 

“Ahhh,” he said expansively, waving his arms at the baobabs, “where does one start? ‘Age cannot wither her… .’ She’s a magnificent actress, you know, if only they will let her be.” 

“She’s lazy, they say, and they also say she’s not very bright, though that happens to be an outright, damned lie. It’s just that her brightness is a natural brightness, not necessarily a college brightness. She may not know all about Shakespeare or Marlowe or Albee, but she understands the emotional truth, and that is what she projects.” 

… “Director wants to know if you’re all right, Mr. Burton.” The voice was muffled by the door. 

“Tell the director to go and f—- himself. I’m reminiscing here about the divine Elizabeth, and mustn’t be disturbed.” 

“You were telling me about her understanding of the emotional truth of a part.” 

“Was I?” … “But you see, what I should have said was that she was a lass unparalleled. A woman of the most charming but also the most natural kind. She could take care of a man, you know.” 

He glanced at me. 

“No, I don’t mean that. What I mean is that she could be so normal, so natural, so caring. 

Listen. Once I took my brother and my business manager to Twickenham for the Wales-England match. Wales won; they always did in those days. And of course we had too much to drink, even my little runt of a manager. Much too much. And we came back on the Tube, and fetched up for some reason at Tottenham Court Road station. I must have said I knew a bar near there. It was late, you see, about midnight. 

There was a gang of about a dozen skinheads at the top, all tattooed with England flags on their chests and faces and arms; a rather fearsome sight. 

Well, it was too late to turn back, so we decided to take them head on. When I say we, I mean my brother and me. The last I saw of my manager, he was shouting, ‘You can’t hit me, I’ve got a briefcase.’ They gave us both a pretty good going-over. I think they were worse to me, though I don’t think they’d seen me on the screen. Maybe I was just bigger and uglier than my brother. 

And then they left us lying there at the entrance to the Tube. My brother said he thought he could manage to get home by himself, and he hailed a taxi for me. He had to do quite a lot of persuading, because my entire head was a mass of blood. But at least I didn’t seem to have any bones broken. I told the driver to take me to the Dorchester, and gave him a tenner. Which was pretty good money in those days. 

They wouldn’t let me in at the Dorchester, of course, till I told them who I was and demanded to see the manager. Then they were niceness itself, and two of them helped me to the door of our suite, though I told them to leave before I banged on the door for Elizabeth. 

But, you see, she was magnificent. Utterly magnificent. She didn’t have a fit of the vapours, she didn’t get excited, she didn’t even tick me off for being drunk and getting beaten up. 

‘Oh, you poor thing,’ was all she said, and she rang down for bowls of water and towels and bandages and God knows what. And when they sent up some kind of quack to look after me, she shooed him away. 

She sponged the blood off my face, and found that my left eye was halfway out of its socket, so she carefully put it back in. Would you ever imagine that someone like her would be able to do any of that? But she was tough, you see, and brave too. And she tucked me up I in bed with the bandages over my head, and at nine o’clock the next morning, when I was starting to feel a bit better, she ordered up a magnum of Bollinger to cheer me up. And then she sat on the side of the bed and toasted me and Wales’s victory.” 

He paused, and looked away from me and the microphone. 

“Magnificent woman, in every way. Magnificent. If I’m honest, my life is a little empty without her.” 

He thought for a moment. 

“No, if I’m honest, my life is horribly empty without her.” 

I (author) said goodbye not long afterwards, and shut the door of the caravan on him. He waved me out in the most courtly fashion, but I think he was probably glad to be left alone with Elizabeth Taylor’s picture.

[lostoneshq]

oi, mod! qual seu mwfc e dos players?

Oi, meu bem! Aqui vai alguns dos meus MWFCs, e deixarei que os players respondam também nas replies!

F: Greta Onieogou, Medalion Rahimi, Ayo Edebiri, Jaz Sinclair, Maddie Phillips, Amanda Obdam, Eva de Dominici, Anna Sawai, Kathryn Newton, Jessica Green, Davika Hoorne, Sonoya Mizuno, Jessica Henwick, Im Jinah, Go Minsi, Han Sohee

M: Theo James, Manny Jacinto, Keith Powers, Alfonso Herrera, Clinton Liberty, Leo Suter, Henry Cavill, Richard Madden, Charlie Hunnam, Corteon Moore, Fabien Frankel, Nam Joohyuk, Henry Golding

NB: Emma D'Arcy

Mandem mais nomes, galera! Estou sem ideias.